3.1 Who?
3.2 Why?
3.3 What?
3.4 How?
3.5 The evaluation
3.6 Final checklist
3.7 Lessons learnt
3.8 Models for timetabling
3.9 Sample questionnaire

3.7 Lessons learnt from organising ICC workshops

Gabriela S. Matei

During 2005, twelve workshops (also known as National Training Events, or NTEs) were organised within the framework of Project ICCinTE, in 12 member states of the ECML (see Models for Timetabling Intercultural Communication Workshops and detailed National Training Event reports in section 6.2). These generally consisted of one- or two-day workshops and were organised by former Graz workshop participants (the local organizers). Each local organizer co-facilitated the workshop with one project team member.

After the event, the majority of the NTE local organizers answered a short questionnaire prepared by the ICCinTE team with the purpose of exploring their experiences in organizing and facilitating such events, in collaboration with the ECML. For the use of future organizers of intercultural training events, we present some of the lessons learned "by doing" (sometimes "the hard way").

Here is a selection of the questions we asked and a brief summary of the answers we received:

1. What was the most difficult thing for you to do when you planned the NTE?

A. Content
For some participants, choosing the content to explore during the intercultural communication workshops did not pose major problems; however, some have found it difficult to deal with the diversity of the group itself: the participating teachers came with a wide variety of experience, backgrounds and expectations. That is why the organizers found it hard to satisfy such diverse needs, and emphasized the importance of pre-workshop needs analysis.

B. Logistics
It seems that the local organizers found two logistics-related issues more difficult to deal with: time and money. They learned that it was very important / and not very easy / to find partner institutions, willing to host and sponsor, at least partially, such an event. Choosing the right length of time and the moment when to organize such an event was also considered important: here, the lessons learned varied according to the very different conditions in which such events took place. In general, it was not easy to find a suitable time to invite busy teachers to a training workshop, and usually such workshops were organized at weekends - when "the willingness to participate decreases", wrote one respondent.

2. What would you change if you were to organize this NTE again?

A. Content
Most of the local organizers were satisfied with the way in which the training events were organized and facilitated. They welcomed the inductive, practice-oriented approach of the trainers, and suggested even "more practical activities, followed by theoretical background."

B. Logistics
In what concerns logistics, time and space seemed to be the two issues: several organizers mentioned the need for a classroom big enough to accommodate all participants (or reduce the number of participants). They usually agreed that ideally the workshop venue should be a place different from the place of residence of the participating teachers.  Organisers also suggested various programme lengths, from one afternoon, to a long weekend.

3. What would you avoid?

Only a few organizers answered this question; one stated that, in the future, s/he would avoid working with a certain partnering institution; another mentioned that s/he would not use shorter training sessions at intervals of several weeks, and, finally, one organizer would avoid inviting unmotivated participants ("who are interested only in getting a certificate of attendance").

4. What other advice do you have for other organizers of intercultural communication workshops?

Once more a few organizers stressed the importance of the selection of participants and of needs analysis prior to the training event. One organizer suggested that, in such training events, it is very beneficial to make full use of the real-life cultural diversity of the participants and trainers.

next chapter: 3.8 Models for timetabling